This Phone Lets You Hear Clearly

Clarity, a division of Plantronics, Inc., has developed a cordless telephone, the C410, to help individuals with mild to moderate hearing loss use the telephone with ease. Hearing loss is a major issue for people over the age of 55. The C410 amplifies sounds that are frequently missed by those with a hearing loss. Standard amplified telephones typically boost the volume of all sounds during a conversation. The C410 goes beyond standard volume control assistance by allowing the user to control the high frequency sounds based on the degree of his or her hearing loss.

The Clarity C410 is hearing aid compatible and features a bright visual ringer, a large lighted dial pad, 10 memory keys and three one-touch programmable emergency speed dial buttons. For more information about Clarity and its products designed to improve the lives of people with hearing loss visit www.clarityproducts.com.

Dentists Turn to Digital Technology

A clinical study published by the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA) indicated that advanced digital technology from Eastman Kodak Company helped dentists find cavities in 20 percent more cases than they were able to find with traditional methods. Improved diagnostic capabilities can often translate into earlier diagnosis for patients, as well as less painful and less costly treatment.

Kodak’s dental systems group offers the technology, “Logicon Caries Detector Software,” as an optional component with its intraoral digital radiography (DR) systems as an aid to helping dentists detect cavities between permanent teeth. The innovative software automatically highlights possible abnormalities on patients’ digital dental X-ray images, signaling the dentist to take a close look for tooth decay or fractures. Kodak recently purchased the software from Northrop Grumman Corporation and GA Industries.

Cell Phones Made Safe for Use Inflight

ASI Entertainment’s wholly owned subsidiary ASiQ Pty Ltd. has applied for a patent for a new concept that allows cell phones to be operated inflight, without interfering with the aircraft’s avionics and the ground networks and eliminates the problem of annoying voice calls. The ASiQ invention has been designed to prevent the cell phone transmitting, thereby eliminating the problem of interference with aircraft avionics and the ground network. Although the transmitter is shut down, only the ability to make a voice call inflight is disabled. The cell phone will still function for SMS, e-mail and games.

The ASiQ unit is attached to the cell phone via a standard Bluetooth or cable connection. What makes the invention unique is that it is designed to work with all cell phone networks, GSM, CDMA, UMTS and EDGE. The unit communicates via the existing certified aviation communications networks and reduces data delivery cost as it does not rely on the cellular roaming network for transmission. The unit will be inexpensive and is designed to comply with aviation standards. As the cell phone cannot transmit on its normal frequencies it also addresses the approval and safety concerns.

Hitachi Transitions to New HD Technology

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi) has shipped the most reliable and technically-advanced 2.5-inch hard drive in the Travelstar 5K160. The 160GB Travelstar 5K160 is a 5400 RPM 2.5-inch hard drive designed for notebook and mobile computing. The Travelstar 5K160 will retail for $269. A Travelstar 5K160 Notebook Upgrade Kit will also be available at $299.

The drive is based on perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) technology rather than standard longitudinal recording technology. The same technology and process used to implement PMR on the Travelstar 5K160 will be replicated across Hitachi’s product lines, including the next-generation 1.8-inch hard drive, slated for delivery in the latter half of 2006.